Oakland in the News Again
Oakland has had a lot of bad press this year, and rightly so. We are struggling with issues of crime, financial instability and crumbling infrastructure. But there is good news too. Yesterday, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums launched a new city-wide financial initiative called “Bank on Oakland” that partners banks and community based organizations to provide financial education and mainstream banking options to thousands of Oakland residents who are unbanked. These unbanked residents are often the victims of robbery because they carry their cash with them. Or they are “robbed” in other ways because they use predatory check cashing and payday loan outlets that charge high fees. Bank on Oakland provides these residents with mainstream banking options, even if they have had banking troubles in the past and are on ChexSystems. This is part of a statewide initiative “Bank on California” out of Governor Schwarzenneger’s office. San Francisco and San Jose are also participating.
Not coincidentally, Bank on Oakland is a partner at the new SparkPoint Center. Families coming to the SparkPoint Center need to have a full range of financial options to achieve their financial goals. Also not coincidentally, East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation was honored to host the launch of the Bank on Oakland campaign yesterday at our Lion Creek Crossings affordable housing development in East Oakland. It made sense to us because Lion Creek is designed around a community hub model. Hence, SparkPoint Center and Bank on Oakland are there onsite as resources to the community at large.
